Two days later, Clarke was on a plane to Belfast for the final season table read. Sitting next to Clarke on the flight, as it so happens, was Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow. Harington deliberately hadn’t yet read the scripts so he could experience the story for the first time with all his castmates. Clarke, positively bursting with wanting to talk about her storyline, found the flight maddening. “This literally sums up Kit and I’s friendship,” she says, and sputtered: “Boy! Would you? Seriously? You’re just not?…” At the table read, Clarke sat across from Harington so she could “watch him compute all of this.” When they got to their final scene together, recalls Harington, “I looked at Emilia and there was a moment of me realizing, ‘No, no…’” And Clarke nodded back, sadly, ‘Yes…’ “He was crying,” Clarke says. “And then it was kind of great him not having read it.”

Imagine how cool it would have been if this last season had started out with everyone massing at Winterfell, preparing to meet the dead in battle. Dany, of course, is still obsessed with winning the throne but she loves Jon so much that she decides to help fight his war. The last few stragglers of the night's watch and wildlings arrive and things look bleak as shit. They prepare a defense that will probably fail but they're determined to stick it out. Right before the battle, Jon reveals he knows his true parentage to Dany, and she instantly knows what this means: he is the rightful heir to the Seven Kingdoms. But there's no time for that, the dead are mad as hell and swarming outside the castle.

When the dead come, Melissandre arrives and though her faith almost wavers, the Lord of Light answers her prayers and helps to defeat the dead. But everything looks like it's going to shit, everyone is dying, Viseryon is torching motherfuckers left and right, and Jon is feet away from killing the Night King but there's ten tons of undead dragon baring down on him. That's when Arya, the silent assassin, uses her training to slip past everyone and stab the Night King right in the chest, unmaking him and his entire army. Fucking amazing.

But the battle isn't won, many good warriors were lost, including Jorah Mormont, and Dany is starting to get pissed. She won Jon's war, but she needs to get back to what brought her here in the first place: she's so consumed with worry that Jon will try to press his claim that she decides to head back to Dragonstone straight away, caution be damned. Everything seems like it's gonna be alright but boom! Rhaegal gets sniped out of nowhere by Euron and his new kraken-themed scorpions. Dany was too consumed by her lust for power to even consider that she might be attacked, and now she has to pay for her miscalculation. Missandei gets snatched and executed, and Dany snaps.

Varys knows Dany is going down a dark road and tries to poison her, but she finds him out and lights him up. In a rage, she annihilates the defenses of King's Landing without so much as taking a single hit. Jon and co. Waltz in expecting a fight but the Lannister bannermen throw down their swords. They ring the bells and the city surrenders. But Dany isn't satisfied. She came all this way to take back what belongs to her with fire and blood. She makes it personal, setting fire to the entire capital.

Meanwhile, Cersei and Jaime try to escape the red keep, and Sandor meets up with his big brother. Cleganebowl happens as the palace collapses around them. The Lannister twins get crushed in the rubble. Jon orders a retreat and finally, things go quiet.

Now here is where shit gets really crazy. Jon knows what Dany did was wrong, but he still loves her. But Tyrion convinces him that she will not stop her war, and Jon knows what his last painful duty has to be. He stabs Dany in the chest and Drogon incinerates the Iron Throne, destroying the symbol of tyrannical power in Westeros. Drogon takes Dany off into the clouds while Jon mourns having to kill the woman he loved.

A few months later, Tyrion is on trial, and Jon is in prison. The northmen sieging the city are the only thing keeping the Unsullied from axing both of them. Tyrion turns his trial into a plea to elect a king, and he nominates an unlikely person: Bran. He knows Bran is a Stark, and this will satisfy the nobles who want a king of noble birth as well as the northmen outside the city. He also knows Bran is basically detached from everything, so nominating him basically gives the small council carte blanche to rule the kingdom uninterrupted. Finally, he suspects Bran might be immortal, or at least will live a long time, and this will keep the realm stable. He spins a nice sounding story to the council and they reluctantly agree, with only Sansa deciding to separate the North from the seven kingdoms.

Now things can start to go back to normal, but there is still so much work to be done. The small council begins to pick up the pieces of a ravaged countryside, Arya leaves to sail west of Westeros, Sansa is crowned King in the North, and Jon gets exiled to the wall, not much of an exile because it's what he has always wanted in his heart. He reunites with the free folk and Ghost, accepting his identity as a Northman, rejecting his Targaryen heritage in favor of who he really is. As they go beyond the wall, a single sprout blooms in the snow, a dream of a spring to come.

That's how this show should have ended.

Edit: wtf you guys please stop gilding this, it's a shitpost

If you have enough spare change to drop on this give it to some charity instead

Since there's been so much negativity flying around, especially with that petition gaining traction, I thought maybe we could do something really decent that can make a difference in peoples' lives, and show a little love for one castmember in particular.

Incase you weren't aware, Emilia wrote a personal essay for the New Yorker in March about her experience suffering two brain hemorrhages, the first of which happened shortly after wrapping season 1. With that essay she launched her charity SameYou, in aid of increasing neuro-rehabilitation access to young people after brain injury.

Posted below are excerpts from interviews she's given since the finale aired which I found particularly moving, although both are worth reading in full. Bear in mind when you read, D&D did not bother to inform her in advance about Dany's turn. It was a complete shock.

It's clear that Emilia invested much of herself into Dany and in turn drew strength from her when she needed it. The fact that the showrunners did not even care to inform her of her character's turn, let alone write a properly fleshed-out script that did her character (and others!) justice, is unforgivable. They've since scurried away to avoid the backlash they knew was inevitable, but the actors are getting the brunt of it. And I just thought... how wonderful a gesture would it be for them, and for Emilia especially, to see fans of the show coming together in aid of a cause that is so dear to her heart. To really know that we appreciate her and this character she's inhabited for the better part of the last decade.

On a personal note, as someone who suffers from chronic illness, Emilia's portrayal of Daenerys means so much more to me since finding out what she went through. The fact that she stared her mortality in the face and did not give up, did not give in, and was able to come through with such a stellar performance.. is beyond inspiring. I can't wait to rewatch the entire series again.

Please note that the fundraising is for the CHARITY FOUNDED BY EMILIA called SameYou, in partnership with the Stroke Association, which helps young people recovering from brain injuries like the ones she suffered while filming the show - not for Emilia herself. (Also, if you're having trouble donating via Paypal, make sure the currency is set to GBP as it's the only way the Paypal option will come up)

If you're sharing across other platforms, please use the hashtags #ThankYouEmilia and #WeStandByDaenerys(please read the article to understand the reference)

UPDATE 3: We're over 17k! Also the very lovely Dan from Fandomentals reached out to ask a few questions and did a nice little article on us, be sure to check it out!

UPDATE 4: We hit 20k in less than 48 hours! Amazing job everyone! Also, some news... Entertainment Weekly have reached out with some questions for an article they plan on doing about the fundraiser. I'll update this post once it's been published! Let's keep this going!

UPDATE 5: 23k! And... EW wrote that story on us! The answers were edited down but I think they did a great job conveying the sentiment behind the campaign. I'll post the full list of questions & answers I gave in a comment so you can see what they left and what they decided to take out. Keep sharing! BEST FANS EVAA!

UPDATE 6: Fuckinggg..... 25k ? can i just say a quick thanks to both u/dropandgivemenerdy and u/DiamondPup for swooping in early and helping me set up/write the post for the fundraiser when I was struggling with wording, and also thank you to everyone on this sub who has chipped in with their suggestions and feedback, you’ve really helped shape the tone of this campaign. You guys made this happen. Keep it rolling!

“I have my own feelings [about the storyline] and it’s peppered with my feelings about myself,” she admits. “It’s gotten to that point now where you read [comments about] the character you [have to remind yourself], ‘They’re not talking about you, Emilia, they’re talking about the character.”

*Like many actors who have played the same role for a long time, Clarke identifies with her character and has put much of herself into the role. She believes in Daenerys’ confidence, idealism and past acts of compassion. As the actress wrote in a New Yorker essay in March, she played the Breaker of Chains through some life-threatening personal hardships, secretly enduring two brain aneurysms during her early years on the show. "*You go on set and play a badass and you walk through fire and that became the thing that saved me from considering my own mortality,”she wrote. Clarke has drawn strength from Daenerys and infused Daenerys with her strength.

“I genuinely did this, and it’s embarrassing and I’m going to admit it to you,” Clarke says. “I called my mom and—“ Clarke shifts into a tearful voice to perform the conversation as she reenacts the call: “I read the scripts and I don’t want to tell you what happens but can you just talk me off this ledge? It really messed me up.’ And then I asked my mom and brother really weird questions. They were like: ‘What are you asking us this for? What do you mean do I think Daenerys is a good person? Why are you asking us that question? Why do you care what people think of Daenerys? Are you okay?’”

“And I’m all: ‘I’m fine! … But is there anything Daenerys could do that would make you hate her?’”

Concerning your medical trials: you had to perform during Seasons 2 and 3 in the aftermath of brain surgery each time. Can you describe that?

I just felt weak and consistently in this mode of “Please don’t fire me. Please, please don’t let me fuck this up. Please don’t let anyone have an opportunity to think I’m anything other than beyond capable of taking on this role.” Every day I would fight my own demons of thinking, You’re sick, you can’t do this. You’re tired, give in. Stop. I just bulldozed through. There were a couple of seasons where I just questioned everything and struggled through everything and felt a tremendous amount of guilt at not being able to fully inhabit this role of a lifetime that I was given when I had many friends who were still knocking on casting directors’ doors. It left me fatigued and exhausted and anxious and worried and fearful every day.

What was your worst day on the set?

The first couple of seasons we would film in hot countries a lot, and we would film in quarries and other places that were incredibly unforgiving with regards to heat. We had very long days, and I’m in this enormous wig over a bald cap glued on to my head. You’re paranoid you’re going to die all the time, because you’ve had two brain hemorrhages. I’d feel incredibly faint and want to pass out. I got headaches and thought I was dying. But I just didn’t ever say anything.

So a difficult day would be a long day with lots of people, lots of heat, and I was just trying not to cry, just trying not to pass out, trying not to think I was going to die. And, at the same time, deliver lines in Dothraki. And then turn up for dinner and say hi to the cast and try to keep friendships alive. That was really hard. I’m sure lots of people will read that and go, “You prissy child, that’s nothing, that’s nothing at all.” But it just felt incredibly dark and tricky when you kind of can’t be honest with the people around you and say, “I’m struggling a bit.”

Did you ever feel in real danger? I mean, did you ever think, I’m on the set, I’m riding a dragon, my head hurts, and I’m about to have another episode?

Oh, yeah, a hundred per cent! In moments of extreme stress, my fear of dying was dialled up to a million. There were many moments where I would just take one of my hair or makeup girls aside and just go, “I think I’m dying, and I’m not. Can you just hold my hand? Could you just look at me and tell me that I’m all right?” And they would look at me like I was mad and try and help me breathe through it.

As a young person who recently had brain surgery, I’ll donate.
Two months after my brain surgery, my daughter was born 10 weeks early. She needed a fighting name as she fought to survive. People can talk trash but we named her Daenerys. After 3 months in the hospital beat the odds and came home. She is 5 months old now.
The character of Daenerys Targaryen inspired me through it all so I’ll gladly donate.

This is just a fun little thing I wanted to do to compliment u/kayester's work (original post). I've got a long way to go with my voice-over / voice acting skills but this was great practice and a super fun read.

I haven't seen much about Arya getting miraculously saved by a snow white horse who is apparently unfazed by dragons flying overhead, buildings crumbling and the smell of dead people and explosions, only to start the next episode standing right back in the city, not even cleaned up.

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Like, at least they could have had a 15s scene of her standing miles away, by a stream in the woods or something where she decided to camp for the night, looking up and seeing the smoke still rising from the city and then her riding back towards it.

I am under the impression that the final outcome of the show is not what made it so disappointing, but rather the poor execution of the story in general. Eg. Rhaegal's death in S8E5 was not a poor creative choice, but the scene itself, Dany's lack of reaction to his death and all of the plot holes involved just made it a very poorly executed part of the story. It would have been so much more satisfying if Cersei had tricked Dany into a meeting under assumption of surrender and then booby trapped the meeting place to kill Rhaegal and capture Missandei at the same time.

I think making just a few tweaks like this would have made the ending much more satisfying, while still keeping the main outcome of the story the same. Here's what I would change.

The Rhaegal change I just mentioned. After this, Cersei parades Rhaegal's corpse through the streets of KL to a cheering crowd. This develops Dany's hatred for both Cersei and the people of Westeros, making her eventual massacre become seemingly more justified.

Jaime and Brienne never get together. Jaime makes the decision to leave and try to save Cersei and Brienne still begs him not to, to which Jaime explains he would rather die than live without Cersei. Jaime arrives to KL in time to stand by Cersei during the battle and escape with her. Tyrion is waiting on the beach with a boat for the two of them. Cersei is enraged by the sight of Tyrion, pulls a dagger and tries to kill Tyrion. Jaime intervenes and kills Cersei. Building is collapsing around them and Jaime will not leave the now deceased Cersei's side. Jaime tells Tyrion to escape. Building collapse kills Jaime while he weeps over his dead lover's corpse.

After Dany takes KL she sends ravens for all the major houses to bend the knee. Sansa replies that she will not and that the north will be considered separate from the other six kingdoms. Dany shares the news with Jon and declares she will declare war against the north. Jon is faced with choosing between his two lineages, Stark or Targaryen, fire or ice. He embraces Dany and stabs her.

All of the comedic relief scenes at the end are cut and Bran is just elected because he has superhuman wisdom, knowledge and foresight and has no desire or want of his own. Plus he is the male heir to a very noble house that has played a major role in this entire story. Bran is a fine selection for king, but not because he has a great story.